FFWD Weekly
Copyright © 1999. All Rights Reserved

Cover Story by Ian Doig Following the contract dispute between the Calgary Board of Education and the Alberta Teachers’ Association for the past several weeks, one realizes that there is more at stake than meets the eye. In the minds of some it is a watershed battle in a war of governance philosophies larger than the sum of its divided parties. On the one hand, there are those who fear they are watching their corner of Canadian socialism crumble through underfunding and mounting debt. On the other are fiscal conservatives with their own view as to how the public sector ought to be run, who tout corporatization as the saviour of our state-run services. Caught between it all are anxious parents and students. They just want a quality education system and to make it through this and the next school year without a teachers’ strike. For better or worse, a turning point is now imminent thanks to third party deck-clearing courtesy of the government appointed Disputes Inquiry Board and a 1998 review commitee report on CBE spending. The DIB has recommended wage increases and the continuation of the pupil-teacher ratio, and stresses the need for increased government funding in the face of financial collapse. This backs the prior findings of the review committee, partly composed of one former and one current Progressive Conservative MLA, which formally cleared the CBE of financial mismanagement. Education minister Gary Mar’s stated refusal to accept the board’s recommendations should CBE and teachers accept them seems to have stiffened the resolve of those parties. "The board of inquiry was quite clear on saying this government had a role to play," says school board trustee Jennifer Pollock. "I think they’re feeling a little bit of scrutiny not only coming from our board and the teachers, but of course the citizens of the City of Calgary." (Unfortunately, no one at the Department of Education returned phone calls prior to publication.) Front end downloading It’s oft heard that education, like other public services, is crumbling. School boards provincewide find themselves saddled with debts unheard of in the past. CBE alone expects its debt to reach $50 million this year. The 1994-95 CBE budget saw teachers saving the day by taking a five-per-cent wage cut followed by subsequent wage freezes. It’s not surprising that the city’s teachers have taken a hard line on budget negotiations. Herein lies the crux of the matter. Factors like inflation, mandatory implementation of student information services, and Y2K readiness increase education costs. School boards have been unable to increase their budgets accordingly. The result has been a desperate scramble of cost cutting and reallocation – $568 million is promised towards increased education funding provincewide over three years, but it’s not enough. "It’s about $200 million next year across the province. Calgary will get about a fifth of that and it doesn’t cover their deficit and increased costs, so that’s why, in spite of having a little more money, they’re actually cutting more than ever," says Joanne Cuthbertson, a founder of local parents’ group SPEAK. Parents, teachers and opposition parties all lay the blame almost solely on government underfunding. Though most critics concede a need for debt management, they do not equate that with drastic service cuts. The inquiry board’s findings put Mar on the defensive. Having run out of ammunition, he left teachers and CBE feeling somewhat vindicated. As stated by ATA head negotiator Kurt Moench, it appears that the government ought to put up and shut up. Manufactured crisis The education crisis, the cynical conclude, is a manufactured one. Budget surpluses have been attained only through the downloading of debt to other sectors such as school boards, and on through parents and teachers. The latter finding themselves burdened with responsibilities once financed by tax dollars. Provincial politicians tell us that debt reduction is a painful process worth short-term sacrifices, but the cry from public sector employees has steadily increased. "We don’t have that much support provincially and federally," says Cuthbertson. "The pressure on people’s lives has really mounted. There’s fund-raising in schools, volunteering and speaking up on behalf of schools. You’d like to be able to do a good job of looking after your kids and not have the demands placed on you because the community is in a lot of need." Dire warnings about the state of public institutions have come to a head and have gained a surprising measure of community acceptance. The wisdom of debt reduction and the Klein government’s education funding policy has come squarely into question. "It’s a very micro-managed approach right now," says Cuthbertson. "It doesn’t involve a lot of consultation. "The focus is on spending the least dollars possible as opposed to doing a careful analysis of what it is we want and what it is we’re going to need and then building budgets. The value is not being placed on what public education is there to achieve." So why not increase funding? It has long been implied that money is being misspent at the board level, but Pollock disputes that, adding that many financial improvements have been made as a result of suggestions from the superintendent and CBE. "I wouldn’t have run as a trustee if I thought things were perfect in public education," says Pollock. "Since I’ve been a trustee I’ve seen many improvements and I agree with many of the things the Department of Education has said. "Unfortunately, their actions don’t support what they say. For example, they support certain kinds of [education] funding, and then they put a cap on it, so they’re not actually funding what they said they wanted to support." She also points out that few school boards have run deficits while controlling taxation themselves, hinting again that government is the culprit. According to Moench, a fair settlement of the contract dispute would take a limited increase in financial commitment. "If they had simply said to CBE, ‘We’ll help you with your debt,’ – and they’ve done it with hospital boards and so on – that would’ve allowed the board to settle and would’ve prevented a strike," he says. Mar upped the ante yet again when, ironically, he stated that he would disregard the recommendations of the independent board of inquiry – initiated by his government – which suggest that CBE is in need of additional funds and is currently headed for financial ruin. Here’s where the rhetoric of government corporatization becomes chilling. Mar’s stance reflects poorly on government debt-fighting and cost-cutting policies, suggesting that none exist, save simple underspending. Also disturbing is the way in which the Klein government has chosen to ignore the democratic process which the ATA collective bargaining procedure represents. In corporate fashion, the boss is the boss. The government’s own inquiry may very well have bitten it in the ass, so to speak, but it has yet to flinch. The situation certainly calls into question the aggressive rate of Alberta’s debt reduction. Surplus building may or may not be downloading debt and crushing provincial education, but something is. Should teachers and CBE accept the board of inquiry’s recommendations without added financial support, CBE will be left in a deep red hole with its cumulative disadvantage growing each year. "We had a revolution that talked about doing things differently, but all we did was pay people less," says Pollock. "We’re all sitting on this tinderbox, but I don’t know where the spark is going to be."

| Back To This Issue Table of Contents | Back To Main Index |